Mail receptacle with door actuated signal



April 25,- 1950' c. H. SPRICK ET AL 2,505,309

MAIL RECEPTACLE WITH DOOR ACTUATED SIGNAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July14, 1948 lll glwua/wtow afffiprz'a/"f MJRe 72 242292 f] 7. if, /2

April 25, 1950 c. H. SPRICK ET AL 2,505,309

MAIL RECEPTACLE WITH DOOR ACTUATED SIGNAL Filed July 14, 1948 2Sheets-Sheet 2 ZZZ Patented Apr. 25, 1950 STATES PATENT OFFICE .Carlli;Sprickand Mervin J, Renquish. Julesburg, Colo.-

ApplicationJuly 14; 1948, Serial No. 38,878

1 Claim. 1

This-invention relates to. an improved mail box forrurai delivery.

It is anobject ofvthis. invention to provide. an improved-mail box ofthe kind to. be more particularlyv described hereinafter to. facilitatethe deposit. and removal: of: mail by rural carriers. and the boxown-er.- Duetto; the. structure and arrangement of. the boxes presentlyin use, in many instancesit is difficult, and often impossible, to openthe boxand-reach within from an automobileor other vehicle. Suchstructure of.

the box. requires. that the carrier or. others get.

Another object. of this invention is to providea rural deliverymail; boxhaving, a signal flag,

which is automaticallymovedto alowered post-- tion. upon opening the:closure of the box; therebyeliminating the. requirement of the carrierto.

lower thesignal after a delivery. In this. manner twooperations of thecarrier's work are ac complished by' one movement and therefore thecarriers work is -grea-tly lessened and the entire delivery maybeaccomplished in better time.

Yet anotherob- 'ect' OfthlSiiIlVBIltlOIl is to pro.-

vide. a mailbox o f this. kind which is attractive in appearance,efficient, in. operatiomsimpl n.

construction and economical to build.

With the above and other objectsin view, our invention consists in thearrangement, combination and details ofconstruction disclosed in thedrawings and.specification,- andthen more par-- ticularly pointed out.in the appended claim.

In the. drawings;

Figure 1. is "aside. elevationpartly broken away and partly in. section,of; anruralmail box constructed "according to an embodiment of our in--vention,

Figure 2 is a front end'elevation,

. Figure 3 isa front elevation" with the'closure;

removed,

Figure 4' is a longitudinal section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1'",

Figure 5 is. averticalsectiontaken on theline. 5--.5 .of.Ei'gure 2;

2 Figure. 5. is afragmentary'detail section takenv on the line 6- ofFigure 1,.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary section taken sub stantially in the line -6-6,showing the-closure removed from. the body,

Figure 8; is a fragmentary section taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, thenumeral Ill designates generally an.improved mail box for rural mail delivery so constructed and arrangedthat. the closure therefor may be moved. to an open position by slidingthe closure vertically relative to the main body of the box, therebypermitting the box. to be positioned close to or adjacent to otherboxes, or in a restricted area. As the. closure. slides vertically thereis no neces- W for providing. additional. space in the area adjacent thebox for the disposition .of the closure inits open position. With a boxof. this kind the. mail carrier may approach very closely to the.forward. end of the box in his vehicle and place the mail. within thebox. without danger of the closure for the box. striking the vehicle orrequiri'nghi'm to stop a suitable distance from the box to permit theclosure to be opened.

The box 1'0 is formed with a housing or body ll open at the front endthereof; The body H is made of sheet metal or othersuitable materialwhich may beformedin. any suitable configuration. The side walls I2 areparallel and vertically spaced apart at their lower end by a bottom wallor floor l4 and connected together at their upper end. by an upwardlybowed or arched wall IS.

A closure as 16- is swingably supported on'the body H at the point l1 sothatthe closure l6 slidably engages the front'edges of the side walls inthe closed position thereof; The forward edge of the'body II is formedwith a flange as I 8 which depend'sfrom the forward edge of the top'walllli downwardly to a point slightly below the.

upper end of theforward'edgesof the side wall l2. The; flange 18'provides a weather seal and. is

adapted. to. engageover' the upper edge of the closure 1,6.- The,closure lo eomprises. a forward plate as at l9, hingedly and swingablysupported on the body I I by a pair of rearwardly extending arms 20. Thearms are secured to the side edges of the forward plate [9 and extendrearwardly to the point ll which determines the curvature of the frontedge of the side wall. A rearwardly extending flange 2i is fixed to orformed on the side edges of the lower end of the plate [9 and providesan attaching means for securing the arms 29 to the plate [9.

Each of the arms 20 is formed of a flat strip of metal or other suitablematerial and is bent upon itself to the shape to be described. The arms20 are formed with a central web as 22 which is tri- Y angular inconfiguration, having a curved front edge of the same curvature of theforward edge of the side walls 12. The side edges of the web 22 convergerearwardly to the point H from which the radius of the front edgeof thewalls 12 is determined.

A flange as 24 is bent outwardly from the side edges of the plate 22 tostiifen the arms throughout their length. A pin as 25 engages throughthe juncture of the rearwardly extending edges of the arm 20 forswingably supporting the arms and closure on the body II. The forwardedge of the web 22 is secured to the rearwardly extending flange 2| ofthe closure It by rivets 26 or other suitable fastening means. In thismanner the closure 16 is swingably supported on the body H and slidablyengages the forward edge of the side walls [2 in an open and closedposition.

An upwardly extending flange as 21 is formed on the forward edge of thebottom wall Id of the body H to provide a seal for the closure. Theextreme upper end of the plate I9 is reverted at one point as indicatedby the numeral 23 for forming a stop member engageable with the upperedge of the flange 27 for limiting the downward swinging movement of theclosure about the pin 23. A spring-pressed latch as 29 is fixed to thelower edge of the bottom wall M at the forward end and is engageablewith a bead as 33 on the lower edge of the plate IQ for resilientlysupporting the closure It in a raised or closed position; A U-shapedhandle as 3| is fixed on the forward side of the plate l3 at the upperend to provide a suitable handle for moving the closure 16 to the openor closedposition.

,A signal flag as 32 is rockably supported on the body I I forindicating to the carrier that there is mail within the mail box to bepicked up or for indicating to the owner that mail has been deposited inthe box. The flag 32 is so constructed and arranged that it will besupported in its raised position by the arms 23 and upon opening of theclosure for removing the mail will permit the flag 32 to be dropped. Thefiag 32 is fixed to the upper end of a supporting arm 34 which ispivotally mounted on the forward end of one side I2 of the body I I.

An elongated slot 35 is formed on the lower end of the arm 34 and apivot pin 36 engages loosely in the slot 35. The pin 36 is fixed to theouter side of an attaching plate 31 which is adapted to be secured onthe side wall 12 by rivets or other suitable fastening means. The pin 33is fixed midway the length of the plate 35 and an outwardly extendingarm as 38 is bent from the upper edge of the plate at the forward endthere- 4 engage the upper side of the upper flange on the web 22.

A stop member 39 is fixed on the flange and limits the forward swingingmovement of the arms 3d below the pivot 36 thereof. The flag 32 is madeof metal'or other substantial material and is normally disposedrearwardly of the pivot pin 33 in the raised position of the flag. Inthis manner the weight of the flag 32 will gravitatingly bias the arms34 for swinging downwardly and rearwardly to a position shown in dottedlines in Figure 1.

- A spring-pressed clip as 40 is fixed to the inner side of one of theside walls [2 within the body ,l l. near the forward end thereof. Theclip 43 is provided for supporting cards or other thin pieces of mailwithin'the box near the forward end so with the bead 383 on the lowerend of the plate it. The weight of the plate I9 and arms 29 will causethe closure [3 to swing downwardly about the pivot pin 25. The stopmember 28 will engage with the flange 2! on the bottom M to limitthedownward swinging movement of the closure. At this time the mail may bedeposited Within the housing H. The closure i3 is then raised to itsclosed position and the arm 34 which supports the flag 32 is movedrearwardly to position the pin 36 in the forward or lower end of theslot 35. The arm 35 may then be pivoted about the pin 33 to dispose theflag 32 in the raised position.

The forward swinging movement of the arm 3% to the raised position islimited by the stop member 38 and the arm 34 may then be lowered toposition the pin 36 in the upper end of the slot 35. In this mannerthe-lower end of the arm 34 will abut the stop member 33 carried by theflange of the arms 23 for supporting the flag 32 against inadvertentdownward swinging movement about the pin 33. When the closure 23 isagain opened to remove the mail from the body H, the flange on the sidearms will be lowered away from the lower edge of the bar 34. This willpermit the free swinging movement of the flag about the pin 36 so thatthe flag will be gravitatingly swung to the lowered position.

We do not mean to confine ourselves to the, exact details ofconstruction herein disclosed but claim all variations falling withinthe purview of the appended claim.

What we claim is:

A deposit and collection receptacle comprising a body formed of oppositesides, a top wall, a

=. bottom wall and a rear end wall, the front end of said body beingopen and the forward edges 1 of said side Walls being convex, adownwardly swinging curved closure engageable over the front end of saidbody, a flange carried by said top wall and projecting downwardly ashort distance along said side walls, the upper portion of said closureengaging on the inner side of said flange when said closure is in closedposition, a pair of closure supporting arms fixed to said closure andextending rearwardly on the outer sides of said of, forming a stop forlimiting the forward swinging movement of the arms 34. In the raisedposition of the arms 34 and flag 32, the bottom edge ofthe arms 34 isadapted to press downwardly or side walls to a point substantiallyadjacent the rear end wall and gravitatingly swingable downwardly toclosure opening position, means pivotally securing the rear ends of saidarms to the sides of said body, latch means carried by said bottom wallreleasably engaging said closure for holding the latter in an upperclosed position, a signal member including an elongated staff formedwith an elongated opening adjacent the lower end thereof, means carriedby one of said side walls engaging through said opening pivotallymounting said staff in a position whereby the lower end of said staffwill engage one of said arms when the latter is raised, and a stop fixedto said one arm engageable by said staff for holding said staff verticalwhen said closure is in closed position.

CARL H. SPRICK.

MERVIN J. RENQUIST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

